Friday, November 9, 2012

Woot, there it is. (updated)

Sandhausen sub Andrew Wooten provided their sole highlight as the 10-man hosts lost 6-1 to Hertha Berlin. The attacker, on loan from Kaiserslautern, finished a fine move on 75 minutes - at the time, cutting the lead to two with his first strike for the loan employers.

If it's true, great. But this meme with him using it for Germany attention is ludicrous. Not only is it rudely presumptive to a wild extent, Bundesliga play is light years ahead of some US friendly if he wanted to do that. The way some fans talk about Chandler bothers me to no end.

It is not at all a comment about quality of play. I meant it more along the lines of him sending a message that if Germany wants him, they need to act now because he is flirting with Uncle Sam again.

If he does stay with us, I am psyched. But I don't think you can fault a US fan for wondering what is going on in his head, can you? There have been reports that he was holding out for a German call up. So a friendly that doesn't cap tie him raises questions.

Much easier to tar, feather and run him out of town than to come to the grips with the fact it might just be that Chandler is young and having a hard time figuring out what is important to him. Unlike most twenty-somethings who have their whole lives figured out the day they leave college.

I agree this whole meme is beyond ridiculous. He'll either play for us, or he won't. And if he doesn't it's not because he's a rat bastard that only showed interest in playing for the US because of some wildly convoluted scheme to get Jogi Low to notice him.

First of all, there have been reports that say all kinds of BS things.

Now, wondering what's going on with him is one thing. When people assume the nefarious worst, vilify the guy based on their assumptions and make some of the nasty comments I've seen, that's quite another.

Too often, people raise questions that support their cynical view. Germany doesn't want him, he has never said he wants to switch, Klinsi wouldn't go for him if it was a path to Germany and he needs to earn his way to a cap-tie at this point.

The good news is he has suddenly been playing better the last few weeks.

Matt, I assume your comment is general and not at me for asking the question. I would love for him to commit. I'll tell you what my major concerns is that if JK has called him in without securing a commitment, he is wasting an important tune up. If he has secured the commitment, I tip my hat.

@Tony M: not in any way directed at you. I, too, was interested in hearing Greg's take on the Chandler situation. I care a lot. He's good, and we could use him.

But in the process of trying to build out our player pool, I think people have become completely disconnected from reality. It would be funny, but for the fact that some people seem to lose all sense of perspective and nuance (e.g., Rongen will forever be the dumb bastard that let Subotic get away).

chandler was offered a place with the us national team. he rejected that offer. twice!!! say whatever you will, but that is strange and a sign of indifference, which is not needed in the national team setup.

his case is only more highlighted by the fact that we have three players in williams, boyd, and left back, who all fall into about the exact same circumstance and they are ready to bleed for the USA.

there should not be a thing wrong with a fan who does not want a player who is not willing to bleed for his country, adopted or otherwise. give me marvell wynne every day of the week over cant handle her.

bottom line on chandler and every national team player, is they have to earn the respect from the fans. chandler has yet to do that, and it is fair to say, he might have done just the opposite by rejecting callups. regardless of his reason.

a say in whether or not i am going to support chandler, or any other player. i dont have to supprt chandler just because you say you had an interview with him and he promised you he would play for the usa. he has stood usa up twice. that is a undisputable fact.

No. As seemingly always, I'm questioning your judging ability and games with facts. When you endlessly claim assumption or opinion as fact, I can't even muster the enthusiasm to reply anymore. It's tiring. And disturbing. I mean, why so exceedingly, intentionally harsh on players that are supposed to be in your "support" jurisdiction?

And THEN, if that's not good enough, you endlessly pretend you don't understand the bristling of myself and numerous others. That might be the worst part. Seriously.

We absolutely have your position down on this matter, and we get that you are not up for listening to anyone else's, least of all mine. And in the end, neither of our takes matters one wit, because neither of us is Chandler or Klinsmann.

Who is NSC?

NSC is run by Greg Seltzer (MLSsoccer.com), who has reported on soccer across the globe since 2001, covering MLS, MLS Cup, U.S. Men, Women & Youth national teams, World Cup, Gold Cup, U-20 World Cup, the UEFA European Championship, UEFA Champions League and Europa League, UEFA Cup, CONCACAF and UEFA qualifiers, Premiership, Bundesliga, Eredivisie, various second-tier leagues, domestic cups and international friendlies.